Fueled by the Searing Drama of Insurance Regulation

We think this counts as "writing on both sides of your brain." Starting tonight and running through June 1 at CHAC is one of the more unusual solo performer shows we've heard of: former Washington State Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn (a theater major, natch) has written a play about her experience wallowing in the mud of the election politics.

Granted, the wallowing was not her idea--the mud was pumped in from out of state--but you gotta write what you know.

Until the Last Dog Dies (tickets: $20 advance, $25 dos) is the story of Senn's unsuccessful 2004 run as the Democratic nominee for state attorney general. For better or worse, Senn had been the kind of insurance commissioner who actually regulated the industry, and her track record had raised more than eyebrows when she decided to run for attorney general.

It raised a ton of out-of-state cash to lobby against her, in the person of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which produced a series of controversial--and for that matter illegal--attack ads (harsh b/w, unflattering lighting, booming announcer, the works).

Now, in another heated election year, Senn is hitting the stage at CHAC to let people in on how "the process" really works. In an interview, she said about the insurance commissioner-playwright hyphenation: "I know of an ex-insurance commissioner who was selling jet-skis in Hawaii so by comparison I am pretty fortunate. Some have said politics is performance art so the distance between art and politics may not be too far."